On 14 November the Kinodaran team began shooting a new documentary about the 1988 Spitak earthquake at the Institute of Geophysics and Engineering Seismology in Gyumri. Kinodaran has announced it as “88-ի երկրաշարժը” (The Earthquake of ’88). The film looks at the scale of the earthquake, the destruction it caused, its causes and its special features.
“The morning of that day has not ended yet…”
from the Kinodaran announcement of the film
Counting down to 11:41 on 7 December 2026, Gyumri time: the minute of the anniversary
Find the black box of the earthquake
About 30 seconds. More than 25,000 lives. Investigators of a crash look for the flight recorder; seismologists look for the record. Somewhere in the dark a signal is still pulsing. Move your light over the ground and follow it.
The only record of the main shock
The main shock left a single instrumental record. It was written at Ghukasyan station, outside the destroyed towns. In Spitak and Leninakan no record of the strong shaking was obtained. Watch it in real time, second by second.
Ghukasyan station, 7 December 1988: the first 20 seconds of the record. The shaking lasted about 30 seconds.
The full story of the earthquake →
Three files are still sealed. Open each one to see who investigates it.
All evidence collected
The case will be opened in the film. Every second brings it closer:
Remind me on 7 DecemberCase No. 1 · open the fileWas the earthquake unexpected?+
On the seismic hazard map of that time the Spitak area was expected to shake with an intensity of 7 to 8. On 7 December 1988 the shaking reached 9 to 10. The buildings had been designed for a load several times smaller.
Yet strong earthquakes had struck this land again and again: Vayots Dzor in 735, Dvin in 893, Gandzak in 1139, Ani in 1319, Garni in 1679, Tsaghkadzor in 1827, Ararat in 1840. Leninakan itself had already been hit once: in 1926 an earthquake of about intensity 8.5 killed about 350 people there.
So the evidence was on the table before 1988. Why was it not taken into account? The answer is in the film.
Three IGES scientists were interviewed. The director Jon Karapetyan spoke about the main causes of the disaster. Eduard Geodakyan, head of the Laboratory of Seismology and Earthquake Prediction, described the main parameters of the earthquake. Vanand Grigoryan, leading researcher, spoke about the buildings of series 111, which collapsed during the earthquake.
The premiere is announced for 7 December, the anniversary of the earthquake, on Kinodaran. Watch the video announcement on Facebook.